Here's - VanderCook College of Music

Born to Teach:
Ruth Rhodes
It’s rare to be grateful for a job you didn’t get, but
if Ruth Rhodes had become the band director she
wanted to be, life at VanderCook for the last 24 years,
and the lives of its students during those years, would
have been very, very different.
The year is 1969. Fresh from receiving her undergraduate
degree from VanderCook, Valedictorian Ruth
Rhodes had her sights set on teaching high school
band. “I was told by the principals interviewing me
that a woman should never be a band director. They
couldn’t see a woman out on the marching band field.”
So pervasive was this attitude – all her post-graduation
interviews ended the same way – Rhodes drew inspiration
from the person who had fuelled her musical
enthusiasm during grade school: her clarinet teacher.
Rhodes first picked up the clarinet as a fifth grade
band student in Hessville, IN – a district with a high
level of expectation. “Everybody was in solo contests.
Everybody. There were district contests, solo contests,
small ensembles, and then the large ensemble
contests later in the year – bands, orchestras, and
choruses. And every year you were in solo contest.”
Naturally, private lessons were part of the regimen.
“Everybody took private lessons. Parents thought it was
important. If your child is going to select something,
whether it’s extracurricular or academic, then you supported
it, and you made sure they were provided with
all the best resources possible. It was just part of the
culture.”
Rhodes formed a special bond with her private
clarinet teacher, VanderCook alumna Glenda Kolar
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